Wind turbines produced enough electricity in May to power 95 per cent of Scottish homes in what was another “extraordinary month” for renewable energy.

Analysis by WWF Scotland on wind and solar data provided by WeatherEnergy found wind power output rose 20 per cent year on year, providing 863,494.63 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity to the National Grid, up from 692,896 MWh in May 2016.

Scotland's total electricity demand in May, including homes, businesses and industry was 1,857,566 MWh, meaning wind power accounted for 46 per cent of the country's total electricity needs for the month.

However in one day last month – 15 May – wind generated enough power to meet 99 per cent of Scotland's total electricity needs.

For those homes fitted with solar panels, there was enough sunshine to meet 100 per cent of average housing electricity needs in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Lerwick in May.

Homes fitted with solar hot water panels has enough sunlight in May to meet 90 per cent of an average household’s hot water needs in Aberdeen, Dumfries, Dundee, Lerwick, Perth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Stirling.